Business and Labour History Group

Exploring the business of the past

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We promote and facilitate research and teaching about organisational and occupational histories.

About us

We promote historical research and teaching within the University of Sydney Business School. We organise seminars and conferences on historical themes in the areas of accounting history, business history, economic history and labour history.

We have been home to the journal Labour History since 1986.

The group receives funding from the University of Sydney Business School and the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. We also manage the Burren Street archives, which houses material of interest to accounting historians, business historians and labour historians.

Exploring the changing role of nurses in NSW workplaces from the early 1900s to the early 2000s. This project examines the social, organisational and legislative context in which occupational health nurses worked, and the distinctive associations and educational arrangements they developed.

Exploring the origins and growth of regional health insurance fund Westfund. Examining the business model of a mutual and the impact of a range of factors on the fund's development, including the local community and federal government health policy.

Using comparative historical data to provide a clear direction for public policy in the development of frontier technology for employment relations infrastructure. This infrastructure would maximise workplace productivity, increase job satisfaction and provide a greater voice for employees in the workplace.

Recording the early history of Citibank in Australia, especially prior to the group obtaining its banking licence in 1986. Through interviews and documents, exploring the long process for Citibank to obtain its licence before it could function as a full bank in the Australia.

Testing the market: The Ashby Research Service and Australia's media industry

In 1936 Sylvia Ashby opened the first independently owned market research firm in Australia. By examining the surveys and correspondence held in the archives of the Ashby Research Service, this paper provides an overview of market research and its growing impact on Australia’s media industry and its operations.

Academic Association of Historians in Australian and New Zealand Business Schools 9th Annual Conference: Why History?

The more things change, the more they stay the same: An organisational history of NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption

NSW ICAC has been in existence since 1988, the result of an electoral promise to provide clean and efficient government in NSW. This paper is an historical examination of ICAC’s work and government responses over the previous 29 years of ICAC’s operations.